Mathematics and Science Course-Taking Patterns. Indicator of the Month.

National Center for Education Statistics (ED), Washington, DC.

This issue of "Indicator of the Month" lists percentages of high school graduates taking selected mathematics and science courses in high school in 1982, 1987, 1990, and 1992. Findings include: (1) High school graduates in 1992 were more likely to take mathematics courses at the level of algebra I or higher and most science courses at the level of biology or higher than their counterparts in 1982; (2) The percentage of high school graduates who took algebra II and geometry and the percentage who took biology and chemistry increased 6 percentage points from 1990 to 1992 (to 50 and 54 percent, respectively); (3) The percentage of high school graduates who had taken remedial mathematics declined from 33 percent in 1982 to 17 percent in 1992; and (4) A larger percentage of graduates, both male and female, earned credit in biology, chemistry, and physics than their 1982 counterparts; similar percentages of males and females earned credit in biology and chemistry in 1982 and 1992; however, males were consistently more likely than females to earn credit in physics. (MKR)